Parents Gymnastics + Other Sports

[Em09]

This question is for gym parents of multi sport upper level gymnasts.
How did your kids balance multiple sports as upper level gymnasts?
Thinking back to my school days, I can't imagine balancing another sport outside of school with gymnastics hours. So I just wonder how you managed to do it for your gymnasts?
Experiences wanted

Note: Not in this situation, just curious to know how you managed the impossible!

 

[Tmacs]

My daughter (L6) doesn't really do any other sports. In L2/3, she did a little bit of basketball and swimming in the summer. This year, she did a few weeks of track this year because her season had just ended and I forced her to... otherwise, she just does sports at recess and snow skis in the winter and does rec swimming in the summer. I would love her to mix it up a little bit more but right now, it's not possible besides just doing stuff for fun.

 

[MomOfAthletes]

We're trying to find other sport/s for my gymnast. She did pretty well in Ninja Warrior a couple of years ago, was on the team but the coach was pushing to compete that involved a lot of travel, we dropped it. She's swimming now in summer but doesn't enjoy it. We tried diving, again she did well but did't like it. In the spring my daughter tried soccer for the first time, she got on the team for the next season... not sure if we can do that because they play matches almost every weekend out of town... Oh, all these sports were possible in addition to 16-20 hrs of gymnastics because of the flexibility of online school.

 

[Coach Kate]

I did track in high school (grades 10-12) when I was a level 9 and 10. I actually ended up quitting gymnastics my senior year because I fell in love with pole vaulting and decided I wanted to do that in college and not gym.

I won't lie, it was really freaking hard. I took all AP and honors classes in addition to track and gym (and violin! I was in orchestra, as well as a quartet and won a scholarship for special private lessons as well). I would be late to gym during track season, which my coaches were fine with because my track team did a full strength and conditioning program, so I didn't do warm up or conditioning at gym. I actually got a lot stronger sprinting and lifting, and it helped my gymnastics a lot. We also did quite a few gymnastics basics in pole vault training - handstands, back extension rolls, and even clear hips and giants (we had a really sketchy single tail we would set up, but no one ever got hurt on it so I guess it was fine). I just learned how to maximize all my time, including before school and study halls. I also listened to a lot of study materials in the car and utilized flash cards. And, I used my weekends well to try to get ahead for the week.

But honestly, my husband and I have talked a lot and neither of us really want that for our kids or our family, although, we also intend to homeschool, so things will be different anyway. He's hoping they take after him and have very little athletic talent! I think a low hours Xcel program would be fun, and I'm so glad the option exists.

 

[Em09]

I took all AP and honors classes in addition to track and gym (and violin! I was in orchestra, as well as a quartet and won a scholarship for special private lessons as well).

Woahhhhh, okay one: you were quite frankly amazing, WOW!! That must have been a very busy time for you. Two, how did you have the time for track? How long did they train for and how often? How many hours where you training? That all factors in. How do you do the impossible?

 

[Coach Kate]

Woahhhhh, okay one: you were quite frankly amazing, WOW!! That must have been a very busy time for you. Two, how did you have the time for track? How long did they train for and how often? How many hours where you training? That all factors in. How do you do the impossible?

My track season was March-June and I only did it with gym for two years. We started at 2:45 (school ended at 2:30) and generally went until 4:30 or 5, sometimes a little earlier or later depending on the day. I did gym 4 days a week (Wednesday off) from 4:00-8pm but during track, I would just get there whenever I could. We also had an open gym Sundays 1-3 that I rarely missed. It was a lot, and I think I liked staying so busy and away from home because my parents constantly fought and it was really tense. They eventually divorced shortly after I finished college, but being home was so sad and rough so often that I did as much as I could to stay away. It honestly made me so sad when I realized that as an adult. I liked everything I did, but I often wonder what it would be like to actually want to be home with my family. I am really hoping I can do things differently.

 

[Leo7]

This question is for gym parents of multi sport upper level gymnasts.
How did your kids balance multiple sports as upper level gymnasts?
Thinking back to my school days, I can't imagine balancing another sport outside of school with gymnastics hours. So I just wonder how you managed to do it for your gymnasts?
Experiences wanted

Note: Not in this situation, just curious to know how you managed the impossible!

One option that some girls pursue is to switch to upper level Excel which has less hours, which frees up more time for school sports like track. Excel is piloting a new highest level, Sapphire, in some regions, which I believe is meant to meet the needs of upper level DP gymnasts moving to Excel

 

[Gymname35]

My daughter is not upper level yet so I wonder the same thing! She currently does gym and rock climbing. Right now the schedules work with each other, but it won’t be long until they don’t. I still have a small part of me that hopes she can do both, because she loves them both.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Our gym maxes out at 12 hours a week during the school year.
My daughter currently L8/9 is back to 9 hours during the school year and on her other sport season she is lucky if she makes it to gym 6 hours.

We pay for 9 hours. We understand we are paying for her spot. Our gym is also a la carte regarding meets. Mine did 2 meets this season plus JO states.

Our gyms business model combined with their experience works well for kids who want to do gymnastics and other sports. The kids who go to our gym for gymnastics are
solid gymnasts who want more are well place to get more, if they want to move on are in great shape to do other things. And for the kids like mine who want to keep doing gym into optionals and do other things can.

I wish more gyms were willing to do this.
At most gyms my daughter would of had to end her gym time as a rockstar level 4, because she would of hated the hours.

We have had kids move on to other sports, track qualifying Nationals, other NCAA sports, and to other gyms

At 16 she is enjoying gymnastics probably more then she ever has. And doing lacrosse and a HS section champ in gymnastics who had a great time at HS states (where she was beaten by L9/10 kids). She had a blast.
Wouldnt change a thing. Nor would she.

And her teammates are doing soccer and track, all play instruments and in honors classes